If there is a radio station that has cult status, it’s WWOZ -- best known amongst its fans as OZ. And those who tuned in during early November were listening to the annual WWOZ Fall Membership Fund Drive, an event that brings in roughly 10 percent of the station’s annual budget. During the fund drive there were an estimated 220 volunteers working on-air, answering phones and stuffing envelopes and other tasks, and a number of local musicians dropped in to say “hi” or perform, including John Boutte, Evan Christopher, Big Sam, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Gal Holiday, Irma Thomas, Davell Crawford, TBC Brass Band, Maggie Koerner, Dukes of Dixieland (they wrote a song for OZ), Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson, the Tin Men (Washboard Chaz, Matt Perrine and Alex McMurray, who wrote a song about OZ), Barbara Short and Helen Gillet.

For the past 30 years, OZ has been nonprofit, listener-supported and volunteer-programmed.